Can you keep a secret?
Are you able to ‘zip it?’
We are wise to keep some things we have heard to ourselves; God’s works and wonders do not make that list.
Tell them!
“We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done (Psalms 78:4 KJV).”
My teachers at Fayetteville-Manlius Elementary School
taught me the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic. They also gave instruction on the proper way to write personal and business letters. Before days of e-mail and facebook, I enjoyed writing and receiving letters. Those from family and friends were especially meaningful to me. I cherish a letter from my Grandpa Ford.
Grandma had died a few years earlier at the age of 86. He mourned her passing and passed long hours in his rocker on the back screened in porch, where side-by-side they had spent so many times together. Then alone and lonely, he penned a letter to me, his middle granddaughter. With trembling hand and bold letters he wrote, ‘Dear Pammy’…
Apostle Paul also used big letters when preparing a letter. Some commentary writers say that he likely suffered with a serious eye condition; [his ‘thorn in the flesh’] while others say he used bold letters for special emphasis. I do not know but his readers received his love when reading between the lines.
“Look at what large letters I have written to you in my own handwriting (Galatians 6:11 HCS).”
To be politically correct…
Politicians tag people who are not progressive or conservative as moderates. Please note progressive has replaced the label of liberal. Moderates tend to be less set in their ways; either of the two main political parties can sway their minds to vote in their favor.
I’m in favor of recognizing many moderates as what they are, non-committal. They prefer to take the middle of the road. They are not for or against the issue in question.
We cannot take that stand when faced with a question with eternal consequences.
“Anyone who is not with Me is against Me, and anyone who does not gather with Me scatters (Matthew 12:30 HCS).”
PUTTING YOUR MONEY TO WORK FOR YOU
Financial advisers do just that; they give their customers financial advice.
It would make a fabulous animated commercial. I picture little dollar bills donning overhauls and hardhats. Their owner equips them with hoes, shovels and axes before scurrying them out the front door.
There is great empowerment through my afflictions; they work for me, not against me.
“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NKJ).”
‘Whistle while it works!’
“For then shall be great tribulation,
such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened (Matthew 24:21-22 KJV).”
I hear many messages on prophecy and I will leave the interpretation of future events with the Holy Spirit…
The shortening of days is a puzzle. I realize God puts a limit to how much Satan can do. Job’s affliction is a perfect example. God would not let the devil take the life of Job. The shortening of days brought to mind an interesting experience my husband shared from a radio station.
He was the music director in a major market and had a competitive station in a nearby city. That meant they were using the same music format, after the same listeners, advertisers and ratings. The station he worked for took a radical approach.
They increased the speed of their records. With ingenuity, a three-minute song became brighter, more upbeat and finished sooner. Silly as that sounds, it worked. They led in the ratings. They shortened the playing time of the records.
We see them on television, in magazines, on the Internet and billboards. Each is a poster-child.
Some have the ability to share their stories of debilitating illness and the hope that they have for healing.
A poster child offers heart-wrenching appeals for people’s support and contributions. Will you be God’s poster child; are you willing to go and tell your story? Jesus gave a healed man that assignment. (Mark 5:1-20)
“He told him, ‘Go back home to your own people and report to them how much the Lord has done for you and how He has had mercy on you. So he went out and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and they were all amazed (Mark 5:19b-20 HCS).”
NOT QUICKLY BROKEN
“And though a man might prevail against him who is alone, two will withstand him. A threefold cord is not quickly broken (Ecclesiastes 4:12 Amplified Bible).”
Good things come ‘in threes!’
“…Grace (spiritual blessing and favor), mercy, and [heart] peace [be yours] from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord (1 Timothy 1:2b Amplified Bible).”
Have ya’ ever been a member of a church congregation during a protracted meeting?
It was ‘long’…
How ‘long’ was it?
The Old Testament Book of Nehemiah details a protracted meeting. (Nehemiah 8:1-12)
“So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month. Then he read from it in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law (Nehemiah 8:2-3 NKJ).”
I don’t believe I have a gardening bone in my body.
Somehow, the DNA inherited from my parents mutated; I lost innate interest or desire for digging in the dirt. I’m happily home-bound in the ARK-LA-MS Delta dreamland.
The LORD has crammed farming illustrations throughout Scripture. Jesus often used references to planting and harvesting of crops in His many parables. The Apostle Paul sensed spiritual gold mines in crop analogies.
“So, what is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, and each has the role the Lord has given. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. Now the one who plants and the one who waters are equal, and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s co-workers. You are God’s field, God’s building (1 Corinthians 3:5-9 HCS).”
Churches are abuzz with a factual phrase…
“It’s not about us; it’s all about Him!”
The sooner we get that through our thick heads and hardened hearts the better off we’ll all be.
“For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen (Romans 11:36 NAS).”
Pam Ford Davis 